In addition to volunteering for the Children’s International Learning Centre, Chelsea is also Case Manager at Good Shepherd helping those in transition move forward. We chat about what CILC is and where they’re going, and some thoughts on ways to move Hamilton forward for those in need.

Nick is behind Orbital, the digital-only agency based in Hamilton. He’s had an interesting journey to where he is now, and we have a great chat about the creative process, comedy, Pokemon Go, tech… oh, and Hamilton.

Highlights

The advantages of small teams vs. huge agencies

How he’s used comedy as a way to push through social anxiety, and make people laugh at the same time

Pokemon Go, how augmented reality came to be, and why it works so well compared to something like Google Glass

Randy is behind Social Impact Enterprises, a company that supports nonprofits and social enterprises in the Hamilton area with projects like the Impact Store. We chat about how he went from studying civil engineering to priesthood, and how running a church provided a lot of the tools and experience needed to run a non-profit!

Kristen is now territory manager for both Hamilton and Burlington with Canadian Blood Services. We chat about her view of Hamilton, the process of donating for those who have never done it before and why its so important.

Corey is heavily involved in Hamilton, whether it be keeping people informed with his e-publication The Gist or empowering young professionals through Hamilton HIVE and the HiveX conference. Hear how Corey made his way to the city and got so involved!

Joey is one of Canada’s few crowd-funded journalists. After several national positions he decided to make the move back to covering local news in Hamilton, which can be found on thepublicrecord.ca and on The Public Record YouTube channel. The actions of city counsellors nearly forced him to leave the city for good, but I’m glad he’s back and I was able to catch up with him for a great chat on all things Hamilton.

Jay Higgins has seen first hand the ongoing transformation of Hamilton and its core. He’s also seen the impression of Hamilton from those outside the city change, in no small part from events like the Hamilton Food & Drink Fest his company Beau Monde Productions puts out to shine a light on the local Hamilton restaurant scene.

Hear how his events started and how his career has evolved and morphed over the years, from events, to working at the Hamilton Spectator (when the Internet became a thing), to tech startups like WikiDOMO – including the Obituaries Today startup story that was supposed to be on Dragon’s Den but unfortunately never had a chance to share!

As a formal candidate for city council (Ward 2), Martinus saw a lack of coverage for the downtown core that was just turning the corner from existing media. In response, a few years ago he accidentally started a broadsheet publication with a distribution of 10,000 copies, and has been purposefully continuing it ever since.

Hear how the publication that echo’s the pulse of Hamilton’s core got started, and how it has evolved over the years.